The whole “love language” thing has always been a mystery to me. Not because I think it is weird or untrue but because for years I didn’t think I had a love language. In fact someone once asked me if I knew my wife’s love language and I was able to fire it off quick. But then they asked me mine and I stood there looking dumber than I usually do. Never again. Now I know my love language. It’s pancakes.

Pancakes are the way that I tell my family I love them. Almost every Saturday morning – unless soccer, lacrosse or something else dictates otherwise – I find myself in my kitchen, mixing and flipping. As you can imagine – as an act of love – these are no ordinary, just add water pancakes. Nope. These are made from scratch and they are tasty.

I started making pancakes years ago – first as just something different and fun. What I noticed is that my kids thought it was cool that Dad was making them something special. It took on a life of its own after that. I started researching how to make them better and better (partly out of love and part because I get a little crazy and super focused). One of the best places that I’ve found for learning how to do anything in the kitchen is America’s Test Kitchen(if you want to really learn the science of cooking check them out).

What I have now is a simple recipe that I’ve pulled from different places and made my own – and one I’m glad to share. But remember – it is an act of love. I’d recommend to every dad – tell your family you love them by making really good pancakes – or really good grilled cheese sandwiches or burgers or BBQ. Go the extra mile and make it extraordinary.

Pancakes:

2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

1 Egg

2 Cups of Milk

Butter

A bit of Lemon juice (I go for fresh but you can use the bottled kind too)

Pinch or so of Salt

Dash of Cinnamon

Drop of Vanilla

Some baking powder

Some baking soda

A little sugar (sometimes I use brown sugar) not too much of either

Griddle (I don’t use a skillet go for a griddle – heat to about 350-400).

Add this to the other ingredients – mix well but do not over mix. You want the lumps in the batter.

Throw some batter on the griddle in pancake size shapes. Wait till the edges have started to firm up a bit – then carefully flip ’em and let ’em cook for a minute or so.

Then serve them up nice and hot with some great syrup.

Cooking 'em up

Fun with Syrup:

Jack Daniels Syrup: put a good amount of syrup (two cups or more) in a small pot and put on medium heat. Add a few table spoons of Jack (I don’t want to “waste” my JD) to it and let it come to a boil. It adds a little kick to the syrup for Mom & Dad. (BTW I saw a guy use this syrup and pancakes with his BBQ on Diners-Drive Ins and Dives not sure about that but I guess if your BBQ is bad JD makes it eatable).